Gardening workshop welcomes new community partners!

ARISE staff, parents, and neighbors came out for a free workshop at the Sankofa Learning Garden this Wednesday afternoon. The workshop was led by experienced gardener Pam Broom. The information at the event ranged from planting beds out of ground, how to transplant plant starts, and getting involved with the community partner spaces. Workshop members planted garlic, lemon mint, and various other herbs. Attendees left the event with some plant giveaways and a new earned knowledge of gardening! Check out some pictures of workshop attendees gardening.  Sankofa is excited to welcome our new friends and community partners to the space.

Our Lead Gardener Pam Broom kicks off the garden workshop

ARISE Staff and neighbors listen as Pam talks about planting in raised beds. 

Christopher Ingham, Special Education Teacher at ARISE, helps Pam plant herbs. 

Ms. Morris, Kindergarten Teacher, plants the final herbs. 

Steffany Bernstein- Pratt, neighbor,  plants garlic bulbs.

Gearing up for the New School Year!

This past Saturday we held a volunteer event at the Sankofa Learning Garden at ARISE Academy in order to get the space spruced up for student use. We had twenty- plus wonderful volunteers who worked for four hours to beautify the space. In the end, we were able to pull up all of the weeds, add a pop of color to the Garden, and bring new soil, all while having a good time. Sankofa can't thank all of  the amazing volunteers enough for giving their time and energy to the school garden. They have truly planted the seeds of positive energy and care that will make this Learning Garden a successful space for students! Here are some photos of these lovely folks hard at work!

Fixing up our community garden beds pictures from left to right: Diane Deroog, Whitney Shields, and Rebekah Mende.

 Ronnie King, Urban League New Orleans  does some much needed weeding of the community garden beds. 

 Joya Phillips, ARISE Academy student brightens up a garden bed with a coat of paint. 

Shelby Hollenbeck and Nicole Marby,Wilson Academy gardeners putting a fresh coat of paint on a garden bed.  

Shelly Gomez and Zach Gomez, community volunteers sprucing up a garden bed.

 Rashida Ferdinand, Founder and Executive Director transplants some rosemary in a garden bed. 

Mary Dumler, community volunteer wheels some soil to a garden bed.

The final results of volunteer day!

Composting Part 1 of 2: What is it and Why do it?

What is Compost?

Compost is simply the end result of the "composting" process. Food scraps, that otherwise would end up in the garbage, are set aside to decompose with the help of worms. Although there are other methods, vermicomposting (using worms) is the most common and very simple. The worms break down food scraps, creating a rich nutrient-packed garden soil called humus aka compost. 

With your resulting compost, you can spread it around plants in your backyard or garden. You're plants will thank you by growing stronger and healthier. 

Happily nourished kale growing in the Sankofa garden

Why is it important?

When you compost food scraps, you're making use and taking full advantage of purchased food. Instead of adding banana peels, apple cores, and used coffee grounds to an already overburdened landfill, you can return the nutrients they contain to the soil in your backyard.

Believe it or not the largest percentage of garbage is Food Waste!
It's not plastic, or paper, or glass, but our vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and banana peels. 

Chart from: www.epa.gov

According to the EPA. "in 2012 alone more than 36 million tons of food waste was generated, with only 5% diverted from landfills and incinerators for composting".

You may be thinking, "food will decompose in the landfill!". You're right but the process is different and takes much longer as food gets buried under plastic bags and other trash. In a landfill food rots instead of being decomposed by worms. This rotting becomes a major source of methane (ie. a contributor to global warming). Composting on the other hand returns nutrients from food to the soil to grow more food, such as the soon to be strawberries below.

Soon to be strawberries in one of Sankofa's gardens

Five ways soil benefits from compost

1. Less store-bought (potentially chemical-filled) fertilizer needed
2. Less run-off (compost acts as a mulch)
3. Added soil structure 
4. Increased drought resistance
5. Potential higher yield and cost savings

Tune in next week for part 2: how to compost

Welcome to Sankofa Speaks Blog

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."  - Harriet Tubman.  Sankofa Speaks, the new Sankofa blog space will include diverse community perspectives on health and provide a platform for Sankofa HEAL students to share the work they are doing with the Mobile Market and Learning Gardens. This blog will be a space for HEAL students to both learn and share information, and speak on issues that are important to their development and self-empowerment as leaders in our community. Additionally, the blog will promote health and wellness by sharing healthy cooking recipes, link to information on nutrition and health, and provide current updates on the Sankofa Mobile Market. Please join us at Sankofa Speaks to work with us to positively impact our lives and work with us to bring our dreams to reality as the creators of our future. 

Warmly,

Rashida Ferdinand

Founder and Executive Director

Sankofa Community Development Corporation